Mike's notes on these tracks...
=Disclaimer= Please remember these exclusive tracks are for Fort Minor Militia members only, and anyone caught posting them outside of the Militia community will risk having their membership removed. Do What We Did MIKE'S NOTES: In making "The Rising Tied," this song was the first song that I worked on with Ryu and Tak. They cut their vocals at their studio, Spytech (the studio in the Remember The Name video). I played all the organ and guitar sounds, then cut them up and added dusty record crackles so it sounded like a sample. The chorus was made by recording the vocal, then putting it on a CD and scratching it on a CD-turntable. Kenji (Interview Version) MIKE'S NOTES: this song is a fort minor militia preview. it will be available on fortminor.com later, but you're hearing it here first. this version of the song contains interview clips only...all the things that were in the interviews that i couldn't fit into the song, but i thought i should put this out there for you to hear. i think this version really tells the intimate side of my family's internment camp story well. also, don't miss this part of the story: my dad's family was pretty successful before they were forced into the camp; when they got out, they had newspaper for wallpaper and were picking grapes as day-laborers. the internment had hit them pretty hard. Tools Of The Trade MIKE'S NOTES: a lot of people keep asking me about this song. here is the story: celph titled came to LA for his first time, to visit and do some vocals. on his last day, he came to the studio a little buzzed, drinking cisco. then ryu and tak proceeded to peer-pressure him into drinking WAY too much, and by the end of the day, he was vomiting and passing out in the studio bathroom. we were all drinking, and you can tell, based on how ridiculous the verses are. celph had written some verses, but didn't finish recording because he was too wasted-- so we had cheapshot try to read his lyrics. this was supposed to be an interlude on "the rising tied," but it turned out way too silly. P.S. - i made the majority of the beat out of random crap from my kitchen and bathroom. Where'd You Joe" (WYG Remix by Mr. Hahn) MIKE'S NOTES: Joe just made this a couple weeks ago. We have a couple remixes of the song floating around out there (one by Styles Of Beyond producers Skully and Cheapshot, another by LP guitarist Brad Delson). I love Joe's--I think it's one of the most unique remixes i've heard of a Fort Minor song. I hope all of you out there who are remixing or plan to remix FM songs are inspired by it. Those of you who don't make music can just sit back and enjoy :) Strange Things MIKE'S NOTES: this was the first fort minor song. i did it just for fun, screwing around in the bus. i like the beat, but i don't like the lyrics. all the stories in the song are true, by the way. this song basically got scrapped as i started making other things that i liked better, but listening to it now, there's a cool kind of nostalgia about it. Believe Me (Club Remix) MIKE'S NOTES: okay, before you listen to this, hear me out. i've said before that i can make any type of song you ask me to, and i was thinking how weird "believe me" would have sounded as a typical rap song. i went the "dirty south" route with this one--i wanted to do something fun (but a little ridiculous) with it, just to entertain myself. now you can listen to it...but make sure your system has the bass turned all the way up. play it loud. Start It All Up MIKE'S NOTES: this was the second fort minor song ever. it sounds a little like something out of the late-80's or early 90's...i like the beat. the lyrics are actually from a linkin park song that never went anywhere. i working on the beat, and they just popped in my head, so i put them over this beat. i did the scratching in the bridge as a filler, and had planned to have someone else come in and scratch it if i ever finished the song...but i ended up deciding that this song wouldn't make the album, so i stopped working on it. Move On MIKE'S NOTES: i thought it would be a cool idea to do a song about sitting in at my own funeral. also appropriate, because doing the fort minor album was like leaving one life and moving on to something else...i thought it was a cool metaphor. as far as the instrumentation goes, i don't play koto, so i used a variety of keyboard sounds to make the "sample." i cut it up and put record crackles on it to make it sound dirtier. mr. hahn blessed me with some scratches. and yes, that weird sound on the end is supposed to be there, your computer's not screwed up...in general, i think the song sounds unfinished, but i didn't know what else to do with it. Category:Fort Minor